A mother fiercely defended her eight-month-old after a man asked her to quiet her screaming baby in a restaurant, claiming he had sensitive hearing.
The confrontation, filmed by the mom and shared on TikTok, sparked debate about proper etiquette in such situations.
An influencer and mother-of-four, known as ‘Vee’ online, was dining at a Vietnamese restaurant in McDonough, near Atlanta, when another customer complained about her daughter’s screams.
The man reportedly approached her table and asked, “Hey can you have your baby be quiet?”
“I know it’s loud,” Vee, 34, told her followers. “But he’s an adult, he can leave, and he chooses not to.”
However, the man replied, “You can learn to be respectful.”
The back-and-forth continued as other diners watched, hesitant to get involved.
“She’s a child, sir!” Vee said firmly, before suggesting he could bring earmuffs next time or leave the restaurant if he had an issue with noise.
The restaurant manager tried to calm the situation as the two exchanged heated words.
“I see you come in here a lot,” the manager told Vee. “I’m thankful. And every time you come here with your kids, I’ve never had a problem.”
“You’re disrespectful, entitled, and privileged,” Vee said as she continued to speak to the disgruntled patron.
He took offence to the word ‘privileged’ and claimed it made him seem racist, as Vee is black.
She clarified, “I said privileged because you’re an adult and you expected me to remove my child when I patronise this restaurant just like you. That is privilege. You’re expecting me to put yourself over everybody else.”
After the man left, the mom said the other patrons comforted her.
Her clip, which now has over 5.8 million views, received lots of support – but surprisingly, not all was in her favor.
“If you’re in a restaurant and your baby starts screaming, you do the decent thing and get up and take the child outside and don’t bother everyone else,” read the top comment with over 7000 likes.
“He’s 100 per cent right,” another agreed.
“I’m on his side,” a third added. “No one wants to hear that in a restaurant.”
“It’s rude to assume that everyone is okay with babies screaming. I try to be considerate of others,” said a fourth, while a fifth added, “You wanted to eat out, but there’s things you give up when having a child. You’re in the wrong. You need to grow up.”
Many, however, supported ‘Team Baby’, saying, “How can you teach a baby to be respectful, she’s eight months old?”
“It’s a BABY. In PUBLIC,” bluntly pointed out someone else.
“I’m on baby’s side,” shared another.
Still, many acknowledged both perspectives.
Kate Heussler, etiquette expert and mother, believes the situation is a textbook example of how quickly frustrations can tip into conflict.
“I can see how it blew out of proportion (and is a good snapshot of exactly what happens in communication breakdowns in relationships and friendships all the time),” she told news.com.au.
“An eight-month-old baby making exploratory sounds is not misbehaving; it’s age-appropriate development. The man’s demand for silence placed an unrealistic adult standard on a child, and his approach carried undertones of privilege and bias that escalated the situation.
“Parents and children are entitled to occupy public spaces just as much as anyone else,” she explained.
Her overall verdict is that she sides with the mother.
“People are entitled to a child-free life, not a child-free world,” Heussler said.
But that doesn’t mean parents are absolved entirely.
“There is always a balance to be struck. Prolonged screaming does call for a parent to soothe or step outside, but in this case the baby wasn’t disruptive – she was simply being a baby.”
She explained that the “right thing” is awareness on both sides: parents doing what they can to minimise disruption, and other adults recognising that occasional baby noise is part of community life.
“In short: respect the setting, extend grace, and remember that etiquette isn’t about perfection – it’s about empathy.”
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